Breeder is fined after puppy is disfigured
ADOG breeder has been fined for allowing a puppy under his care to have her ears cut off. Michael Dawson, aged 49, was caught with the American pocket bully bitch in a raid by police and other agencies at his Plymouth house.
The tan and white dog, called Riot, was found in a crate in the garden with cropped ears, Plymouth magistrates heard. The dog was seized by the RSPCA and has since been rehomed, the court heard.
Dawson was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £100 victim surcharge but was not banned from keeping animals because he said breeding dogs was his only source of income.
Dawson, of King’s Tamerton Road, pleaded guilty to permitting another person to perform a prohibited procedure or failing to protect a protected animal in June, 2019.
A fact-finding hearing was heard to establish the chain of events. He told the court that he had bought the puppy from a Scottish breeder for £5,000.
The RSPCA said that Dawson said to the magistrates that he had sent Riot away to meet a potential mate. He said that he was upset when the dog returned with her ears cropped.
A vet who examined Riot found both of her ears had been surgically removed. Biopsies taken showed the injuries had been inflicted around two weeks earlier.
An RSPCA spokesperson said Riot was taken into foster care when the multi-agency warrant was executed with Plymouth City Council at the fore. She added: “Riot was signed over to the RSPCA in March, 2020, and settled in well to her new home.”
The RSPCA said ear-cropping was on the increase, despite being illegal. It is allowed in America and other European countries.
The charity added that people were encouraged by celebrities who had cropped dogs, but the RSPCA says that it is painful and unnecessary, affecting the way dogs hear and communicate.
Dawson was fined in November at the same court for having illegal veterinary medicines. Dawson and his company, Element Bullys, admitted having five substances, including prescription-only antibiotic treatment for dogs. It followed a raid under a search warrant by officials from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Both Dawson and the company, where he is the sole registered director, pleaded guilty to possession of unauthorised medicinal products in June last year. He was fined £265 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £30 victim surcharge.
Element Bullys Ltd, based at Faraday Mill Business Park in Cattedown, was fined £1,500, plus £150 victim surcharge.